Agenda 03-19-24; 5-a - Zoning Atlas Amendment – 6915-UT Millhouse Road, Chapel Hill

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tb municipal centers while separating it from the residential and commercial activities of those areas for a more rural location surrounded by similar uses. Chapter 5— Land Use Element, Section 5.6 Goals The proposal is consistent with the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, furthering the following goals: ■ Land Use Overarching Goal: Coordination of the amount, location, pattern, and designation of future land uses, with availability of County services and facilities sufficient to meet the needs of Orange County's population and economy consistent with other Comprehensive Plan element goals and objectives. Staff Comment: The application proposes an Agricultural Support Enterprise for an arborist and wood-processing center within an area surrounded by public or quasi-public uses, including the actively-managed Duke Forest. The tree-related operations are consistent with both the rural character of this immediate area as well as the more intensive use to the south of the former county landfill, which is in the Town of Chapel Hill's ETJ. While, by the applicant's admission, the operations will generate noise pollution and some odors related to tree processing into wood byproducts, the use is consistent with the "low-intensity agricultural support" uses allowed in the Rural Buffer by the Orange County- Chapel Hill-Carrboro Joint Planning Agreement (JPA) Land Use Plan. The site plan and conditions committed to by the applicant will separate this use from the properties owned Orange County and proposed for a recreational facility featuring multiple soccer fields. The combination of the required screening and setbacks with the natural environmental features of this property and the adjacent ones will adequately minimize impacts to surrounding properties. ■ Land Use Goal 2: Land uses that are appropriate to on-site environmental conditions and features, and that protect natural resources, cultural resources, and community character. Staff Comment: The proposed use meets all UDO standards for buffering and screening, as well as the applicable erosion control and stormwater regulations. It will utilize and improve an existing access road, creating no new stream crossings, and, in fact, improving the existing one to minimize runoff into the stream. The arborist will process natural wood products that can be reused locally for multiple purposes, reducing the need for area residents to rely upon imported products. The restrictions that exist on the uses of most of the surrounding properties should ensure that low-intensity agricultural production of the site will have minimal negative impacts upon natural resources or residents. ■ Land Use Goal 3: A variety of land uses that are coordinated within a program and pattern that limits sprawl, preserves community and rural character, minimizes land use conflicts, supported by an efficient and balanced transportation system. Staff Comment: The proposed arborist and tree processing facility will be placed within the Rural Buffer, away from residentially-used properties, and within the rural areas of the county. The neighboring Duke Forest property is, in fact, a site that may be actively timbered at its owners' discretion; and the southern, county-owned property is a former landfill that is limited in its redevelopment potential. These surrounding conditions will allow the use to be inherently buffered from neighbors and prevent negative impacts to them that might otherwise occur in a more densely-developed area. The use is consistent with the future land use classification allowed by the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, Appendix F; and is consistent with the land use allowances for the Rural Buffer in the JPA. The site will generate some new traffic, but the cumulative daily employee and business-related trips are under the County's threshold for further analysis or offsite improvement. 12